June 22, 2005

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Palo Alto Online

Azevedo sparks USA in FINA World League

by Rick Eymer

Stanford grad Tony Azevedo scored three goals to help the United States national men's water polo team beat Romania, 11-9 in a shootout, on Sunday in the FINA World League preliminaries in Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro.

The United States also beat Germany, 9-8, but lost to Serbia and Montenegro, 10-4, over the weekend.

The U.S. is in fourth place, based on goal differential, of Group B. The next group of matches takes place in Stuttgart, Germany this weekend. The semifinals will be held on Long Island beginning July 6.

Against Romania, the Americans scored three goals in the final period to tie the game at 8-all and send it to the penalty shot phase.

"We played well in the first period but I didn't expect my guys would lose concentration in the second and third quarters," Team USA coach Guy Baker said. "We were very good again in the last period of the game and we were luckier in penalty shots."

The U.S. also had to come from behind to beat Germany. The Germans held a 8-7 lead after three quarters. Azevedo also scored a goal in that contest, while Stanford grad Peter Hudnut also played.

"We won and that's good," Baker said. "We started to create situations that would lead us to the victory."

The United States women's national team begins play at the end of June.

At the U.S. Open Masters Championships in Santa Barbara recently, two local goalies led their respective teams to titles in the age-group tournament.

Menlo School boys' water polo coach Jack Bowen was named Most Valuable Player in the men's 30-over division while helping Saddleback/El Toro (SET) win that division.

Bowen, 32, a former All-American goalie at Stanford, hadn't played water polo for nearly four years before beginning to train for the event just 1 1/2 months ago after getting a call from ex-Cardinal great Wolf Wigo. It was Wigo, the three-time Olympian and new head coach at UC Santa Barbara, who started up the club team.

"When I got in that first game, I felt like I didn't want to get hit with the water polo ball, which isn't a good thing," said Bowen.

SET opened with a 14-4 win over Central Valley, followed by a 2-1 win over Santa Barbara, and a 6-2 triumph over Sunset, 6-2. In the finals, SET beat Santa Barbara again, 5-2, to cap the 52-team bracket.

Bowen allowed only nine goals in the four wins.

"I would love to take credit (for the title)," Bowen said, "but we actually played pretty good defense."

Sean Foley of Woodside again captained the Santa Barbara Masters to the championship in the men's 40-over division. Santa Barbara defeated the Olympic Club, 8-7, for the gold medal. Foley then joined the 45-over squad that played to a 4-4 title in that bracket's championship game.

Volleyball

The United States women's team finished fourth at the Pan American Cup following its 25-22, 21-25, 25-22, 27-25 loss to Brazil in the third-place match on Saturday in Santo Domingo.

Nancy Metcalf and Jennifer Joines each scored 18 points to lead the Americans. Metcalf was named the tournament's Best Scorer.

"While we are disappointed in the outcome, given the relative lack of experience of this squad, I'm happy that we accomplished our goal of qualifying for next year's World Grand Prix," Metcalf said.

Stanford grad Ogonna Nnamani was unavailable to participate in the Pan Am Cup, and Stanford freshman Cynthia Barboza played a reserve role.

The women are back in action on Friday in Ningbo, China to compete against the Netherlands, Thailand and China in the first week of the current World Grand Prix.

The men's national team, which includes Stanford grad Curt Toppel, will hope for better results when it travels to participate in an Argentina tour beginning July 23.

The Americans finished seventh in the International Tournament in San Diego last week.

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